Lunenburg girls top Oakmont in overtime

Lunenburg's Sami Day looks to pass while guarded by Oakmont's Haley Maciel during Friday's game at Lunenburg High School. SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / BRETT CRAWFORD

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LUNENBURG -- A desperation trey capped off an Oakmont Regional comeback and forced overtime, but in the extra frame Lunenburg's ability to drive to the lane was the difference, as the Blue Knights escaped with a 67-65 win over the Spartans in Wachusett C girls' basketball action at Stachowicz Court on Friday night.

Lunenburg improves to 6-5 (2-2) with the victory, as Oakmont dips down to 5-7 (2-3).

"We're not a great 3-point-shooting team," Lunenburg head coach Frank Greene said. "We were looking for everything inside and we were getting to the line, and that was the difference in the end. They made a great run at us, and we knew they were going to make a run, but we settled down down the stretch.

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Oakmont's deficit reached as high as 19 points in the second half, but with two and a half minutes to go, the visitors found themselves down by only 10. Haley Maciel, who netted a game-high 25 points, went to work by driving to the hole for a hoop and splitting a free throw trip, which cut it to 56-49 with 2:06 left.

Half a minute later, Josie Dearborn (17 points) connected on a put-back, then 20 seconds later hit two freebies, which made it a three-point game with 1:16 to go.

In the closing 30 seconds of regulation both teams traded turnovers in a sequence, then a Lunenburg attempt to get the ball out of its defensive zone resulted in a Rachel Testa steal.

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Testa heaved the ball out of desperation immediately after the theft, and the off-balance shot drilled home, tying the game at 56-56 with less than 15 seconds left.

Lunenburg's potential game-winning 3-pointer banked off the backboard, as the fierce rivals got an extra four minutes of play in overtime.

Dearborn drained a jumper from the corner to start the extra frame, then, following a split Lunenburg free throw trip, Maciel took the feed from Testa and put Oakmont up 60-57.

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Lunenburg responded with a mini 4-0 run, with a second-chance basket from Erin Stern and a shot from the elbow from Aleine Johansson.

Oakmont tied it with a split visit to the charity stripe, then with 1:15 left Keyli Mathews (17 points) hit two important free throws to give the Knights a little buffer. But the slight edge did not last long as Maciel drained a 3 from the corner to put the visitors up 64-63.

Brianna Hamel (10 points) forced the second tie of overtime when she went 1 of 2 from the line. Later, with only 16 seconds left, Mathews took the feed down low from Sami Day and got to the line for two, making both to give Lunenburg a 66-64 lead.

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"She tells me all the time that she's going to miss one free throw and make the rest. It's just confidence with her."

With seven seconds left, Oakmont's Katie Becotte had a chance to tie it from the line, but saw her second shot bounce out, in part due to a raucous crowd attending for the girls' and boys' doubleheader. Stern gathered the rebound and split a trip at the line to push the lead back to two points with five seconds left.

The Spartans had one last chance to tie it, but Maciel's runner bounced out as the Blue Knights escaped.

"We're young and made a lot of mistakes early," Oakmont head coach Jeff O'Neill said. "But you can't get upset because they are working their tails off. The heart and soul they showed in the second half is what I accentuated in the lock room."

The game had a track-meet feel from the start, as both teams battled evenly, racing up and down the floor. Eventually Lunenburg's pressure defense caused problems for the Spartans, as Oakmont committed 13 turnovers in the second quarter alone, which translated into a big Lunenburg run. The Spartans committed 20 turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 35.

The Blue Knights closed out the second quarter on a 14-1 spurt, thanks to two treys from Hamel and some transition buckets, which made the halftime score 32-18 for the Knights.

Oakmont crept back in by the close of third, narrowing the gap to 45-36.

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